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Plasma makers stand by the technology

3 September 2007 17:42 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 3 comments

Manufacturers of Plasma TVs have told Reuters at IFA in Berlin that they plan to stand by the technology even as liquid-crystal display (LCD) TVs keep getting more popular. While plasma TVs generally do well in larger sizes, LCD has slowly been catching up. In 2006, four times more LCD TVs were sold than Plasma TVs, and iSuppli predicts LCD will be selling 7 times more units this year.

Matsushita, with the world's best selling brand for Plasma TVs, Panasonic, believes it can fight off competition from LCD TVs by simply improving plasma technology. Specifically, the company is aiming to improve power efficiency, and cut the price. Hiro Wada, who is in charge of planning for visual products and display devices at Panasonic said he expected plasma to keep 30% of the market for TVs 37-inches or more in the medium term.

"We have a chance because demand for bigger screens is increasing," Wada said. Matsushita is investing $1.5 billion in a plasma panel factory in Japan, aiming to stay on top of the market. Wada also noted that while LCD technology is 30 years old, Plasma is only 10 years old and has plenty of room for improvement. Panasonic plans to reduce the power consumption of its sets by about 20% per year.

LG Electronics also told Reuters that it will stay in the Plasma business even though it has been urged to sell or shut down the unit.

Source:
Yahoo (Reuters)

Permalink to this article

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Sony, Sharp, Hitachi to cut LCD power consumption (14 September 2007)

Panasonic adds 2 new affordable plasmas (6 September 2007)

Panasonic prolongs plasma life cycle (20 August 2007)

Plasma display revenue to begin dropping in 2009 (12 August 2007)

Matsushita shifts focus from plasma to LCD (11 August 2007)

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A_Klingon (Moderator) 4 September 2007 18:41
*Quote:* "We have a chance because demand for bigger screens is increasing," Oh, I dunno 'bout that. (Maybe), but.... I believe, for the 'average' (you & me) consumer, the overall demand for smaller, "normal" size screens (the kind that fit comfortably into your bedroom, kitchen, den, living room....) FAR outstrips the demand for ultra-expensive, wall-to-wall, MegaHuge screens, regardless of the underlying technology involved, be it plasma, LCD or whatever. How long have we yet to go now, before the familiar CRT (cathode ray tube) sets, both NTSC and PAL, are going to be declared obsolete? Is it officially in 2010 now? I believe that only after the 'regular' analog TV broadcasts that we receive today are no longer telecast (and thus are no longer available), will we see a marked increase in any of these 16:9 widescreen, 100% digital sets, because terrestrial, digital broadcasting will be the norm. Today, you can buy a colour ntsc crt television for almost nothing, which is simply the industry's way of saying that the analogue 4:3 TV set is very close to extinction. I'm looking forward to it myself, because I would simply LOVE to hang a lightweight screen on my bedroom wall (much like a simple picture frame) to receive (free) digital widescreen programs. It's coming soon! [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 10 September 2007 15:01
LCD is going to catch up and over take plasma and it is the way to go lcd screens are very reliable and have what i feel as the same quality of plasma. [ + quote]
A_Klingon (Moderator) 21 September 2007 21:24
Only thing I don't like about LCD, borhan, is that you don't have a very wide viewing angle. If you try to view a movie from either too far UP or DOWN, the picture appears either way too bright and washed out, OR, dark and murky. (At least that's how it appears on my Sony.) Viewed dead-on however, and the picture is fine. [ + quote]